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Benchmarks for Assessing Possible National Alternatives to International Criminal Court Cases Against LRA Leaders

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Benchmarks for Assessing Possible National Alternatives to International Criminal Court Cases Against LRA Leaders May 2007 Number 1 Benchmarks for Assessing Possible National Alternatives to International Criminal Court Cases Against LRA Leaders A Human Rights Watch Memorandum I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 II. The importance of credible prosecutions in accordance with international standards......2 III. Benchmarks for assessing possible national alternatives to ICC cases........................... 4 A. Credible, impartial and independent investigation and prosecution ............................5 B. Rigorous adherence to international fair trial standards ..............................................7 C. Penalties that reflect the gravity of the crimes............................................................. 8 IV. Determining the sufficiency of a national alternative to ICC prosecutions.......................9 V. A note on possible Security Council deferral of an ICC investigation or prosecution.........9 I. Introduction Human Rights Watch welcomes the resumption of peace talks between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) which have been taking place since April 26 in Juba, southern Sudan. The talks create the prospect of an end to the 21-year conflict which has had a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of civilians in northern Uganda. Human Rights Watch firmly believes that any outcome for northern Uganda must include both a peace agreement and fair and credible prosecutions of those responsible for the most serious crimes committed during the conflict, together with accountability measures for lesser offenses. Ensuring that there is no impunity is not only essential to accountability, but to establishing a durable peace in northern Uganda. This involves addressing serious crimes using procedures that conform to international human rights standards. Since the conflict began in 1986, serious crimes in violation of international law and other human rights abuses committed by the LRA and to a lesser extent by government forces have been documented by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations. There has been a general failure to bring to justice alleged perpetrators. Arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for four LRA leaders provide a real opportunity to ensure justice is done for at least some of the serious crimes committed during the course of the conflict. The men are charged with crimes of the utmost gravity: crimes against humanity including murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, and rape; and war crimes, including murder, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape, and forced enlisting of children.1 Human Rights Watch is aware that various parties with an interest in the outcome of the talks are exploring the possibility of national alternatives to ICC prosecutions to help facilitate a peace agreement. This memorandum enumerates why credible prosecutions of those responsible for the most serious crimes in accordance with international standards are so important. It then gives details of the benchmarks that would need to be satisfied 1 In July 2005 the court issued warrants for the arrest of the top five LRA leaders – Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya and Dominic Ongwen – for crimes against humanity and war crimes. However, Lukwiya was killed in August 2006 during a fight between the LRA and Ugandan military forces. See “Warrant of Arrest unsealed against five LRA Commanders,” ICC press release, October 14, 2005, http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/114.html (accessed May 7, 2007); ICC, “Statement by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the confirmation of the death of Raska Lukwiya,” November 7, 2006, http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/organs/otp/speeches/LMO_20061107_en.pdf (accessed May 7, 2007). 1 before any national alternative to trial by the ICC of the cases of the four LRA leaders would be adequate. These benchmarks are effectively the same standards that should apply for the trial of any person brought to justice for a serious criminal offense, namely: credible, independent and impartial investigation and prosecution; rigorous implementation of internationally recognized standards of fair trial; and penalties on conviction that are appropriate and reflect the gravity of the crime. Key governments, UN representatives, and the mediation team have a crucial role to play in ensuring that both peace and justice are achieved in northern Uganda. We urge the participants to use all appropriate influence with the parties to pursue such an outcome. This includes advocating that any proposed national alternative to ICC prosecutions – and any other prosecutions of persons alleged to have been responsible for serious international crimes and other human rights abuses – meets necessary benchmarks discussed in this memorandum. II. The importance of credible prosecutions in accordance with international standards The conflict in northern Uganda has been characterized by serious crimes under international law and other human rights abuses committed by the LRA and to a lesser extent government forces, which Human Rights Watch and others have documented for years. On the part of the LRA, these have included willful killings, beatings, large-scale abductions, forced recruitment of adults and children, sexual violence against girls whom it assigns as “wives” or sex slaves to commanders, and large-scale looting and destruction of civilian property. On the part of the government, these have included extrajudicial executions, rape, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, 2 and forced displacement. 2 Human Rights Watch, The Scars of Death: Children Abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda (New York: Human Rights Watch, September 1997), http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/c/crd/uganda979.pdf; Human Rights Watch, The State of Pain: Torture in Uganda, vol. 16 no. 4(A), March 2004, http://hrw.org/reports/2004/uganda0404/index.htm; Human Rights Watch, Abducted and Abused: Renewed Conflict in Northern Uganda, vol. 15, no. 12(A), July 2003, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0703/; Human Rights Watch, Uprooted and Forgotten: Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda, vol. 17, no. 12(A), September 2005, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/uganda0905; Amnesty International, “Uganda: ‘Breaking God's commands’: The destruction of childhood by the Lord's Resistance Army,” AFR 59/001/1997, September 18, 1997, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR590011997?open&of=ENG-UGA (accessed May 9, 2007); Amnesty International, “Breaking the Circle: Protecting human rights in the northern war zone,” AFR 59/001/1999, March 17, 1999, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR590011999?open&of=ENG-UGA (accessed May 9, 2007). 2 In March 2007, Human Rights Watch researchers spoke with people in Uganda who were victims of the massive displacement in northern Uganda due to the conflict. Nearly all those we met living in displaced camps expressed an intense desire to return to their homes. A number conveyed real concern that prosecution of LRA leaders could delay their departure and therefore saw the ICC as an obstacle to peace. At the same time, some civil society representatives suggested that a peace agreement based on impunity is unlikely to be sustainable after victims settle back home and realize that the crimes against them and their loved ones have been excused. Moreover, a distinct vocal minority of displaced persons we met with declared a desire to see those most responsible brought to trial. International law mandates prosecutions for serious crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, which help to ensure individual victims’ rights to truth, justice, and an effective remedy, along with combating impunity.3 Major international treaties to which Uganda is party – the Convention against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – provide that alleged perpetrators of serious crimes must be fairly prosecuted. But it is not only international legal obligations that make justice necessary. Human Rights Watch believes that meaningful prosecutions in accordance with international standards of those responsible for the most serious international crimes are a crucial component to achieving a durable peace. Such prosecutions send the message, especially to would-be perpetrators, that no one is above the law. They also help to consolidate respect for the rule of law by solidifying society’s confidence in judicial institutions. This in turn helps cement peace and stability. The UN secretary-general’s 2004 report on the rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies states that: “[E]xperience in the past decade has demonstrated clearly that the consolidation of peace in the immediate post-conflict period, as well as the maintenance of peace in the long term, cannot be achieved unless the population is confident that redress for grievances can be obtained through legitimate structures for the 4 peaceful settlement of disputes and the fair administration of justice.” 3 See Updated Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat Impunity (Updated Principles), February 8, 2005, E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1, preamble, principle 19; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR
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